Dr Dawn Bearden and Visionary Eyecare (Independent Doctor of Optometry Next to Lenscrafters) have moved out of their location next to Lenscrafters. Visionary Eyecare and Optometrist, Dr Dawn Bearden were located next to Lenscrafters in Pembroke Pines and Sunrise (INSIDE SawgrassMills Mall) for almost 15 years but, have now relocated to East Ft Lauderdale.

Eye Doctor, Dr Bearden is still seeing patients in Broward County and now seeing her patients for eye exams in East Ft Lauderdale at Fort Lauderdale Eye Care & Eyewear located at 1489 SE 17th St Suite 2J in Fort Lauderdale FL 33316. The office is on 17th St Causeway – just west of the 17th St bridge, Port Everglades and Bimini Boatyard. We are in the Southport Shopping Plaza with Office Depot and Ross. We are on the second floor – above Wells Fargo Bank and next to Diamante Day Spa.

All patient records and all of the high tech computerized equipment from Visionary Eyecare have been moved to this new location on 17th St in East Ft Lauderdale.

We are sad to leave all of our friends at LensCrafters but, it was time to move on. We will miss LensCrafters but, we are excited for our new venture at Fort Lauderdale Eye Care & Eyewear. Call us if you need an appointment for an eye exam 954-763-2842

Our Lead Technician, Carol Marsh-Urquhart and her very special friend, Corey

Two 11 year old kids – Corey and Alliston – came into the Visionary Eyecare Office in Pembroke Pines… they were selling candy TO BUY THEIR OWN school supplies when our lead tech, Carol Marsh-Urquhart, was in charge. Carol was so touched by their humbleness and exuberant entrepreneurial energy in finding a way to buy their own school supplies that she thought of ANOTHER WAY to help them get their supplies.

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She contacted her church – Christ The Rock in Cooper City – and inquired about any program that would help kids in need. Carol was able to get 2 book bags filled with school supplies for the two youngsters. She then called the kids, Corey and Alliston, who were extremely happy to FINALLY have their school supplies!!!

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During this encounter, Carol also had noticed that Corey had a very severe and cosmetically troublesome eye turn and thought about ways in which she could help him with his problem – maybe there was a way that she could help him get his eyes properly aligned….

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Carol spoke with our Eye Doctor, then connected him with Nova Optometry Pediatric Department for his specialized optometrist eye exam and then connected him with the Lenscrafters OneSight Program so he was able to get a new pair of glasses.

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Carol also was able to contact a local Pediatric Ophthalmologist, Dr Bruce Miller, for Corey. After a couple of visits to the Ophthalmologist, surgery is now scheduled to correct Corey’s eye turn. Corey’s mother had absolutely NO IDEA that her son’s eye turn could be resolved – she thought that Corey was just born that way and that nothing could be done about this very cosmetic eye turn problem. She thought that Corey would have to live with his eye turn forever.

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Corey and his mother are now eternally thankful to Visionary Eyecare’s lead tech, Carol, for helping her son to be able to live his life without this troublesome eye turn – called strabismus.

Susan Scott is a local artist and patient of Dr Dawn Bearden at Visionary Eyecare(The Indepenedent Doctor of Optometry Next to Lenscrafters) in Pembroke Pines. She had previously always had a problem finding an eye doctor who could address all of her creative and artistic visual needs.

One day she was having problems doing an art project and her friend, Evelyn (who is an artist and a patient of Dr Bearden) recommended that Susan go to see Dr Dawn Bearden.

This is Susan’s story…

While Susan and Evelyn were doing an art project together – Susan had THREE pairs of glasses in front of her and still seemed to be having difficulty seeing what she was doing. None of the glasses seemed to meet her artistic visual needs. She felt that she just could not find an Eye Doctor that could give her a prescription that would allow her to see clearly enough to create her art.

After Susan was recommended to Optometrist, Dr Dawn Bearden, from her friend, Evelyn, she realized that Dr Bearden is ALSO an artist. Evelyn originally met Dr Bearden Evelyn because Evelyn was teaching Dr Bearden how to make stained glass art at her store – Glass By Design. Dr Bearden is also passionate about photography. Dr Bearden started taking pictures around age 12 when she was in middle school, she had minored in Photography in College and also had recently attended the Ft Lauderdale Art Institute for Photography. For as long as she can remember – Dr Bearden has ALWAYS had a camera in her hand. Susan felt a connection with Dr Bearden because she felt that they were both artistic and creative individuals. She felt at ease because she knew that THIS particular Doctor would understand her specific visual needs.

After the eye exam, Susan was very happy with the thoroughness of the eye examination. She FINALLY received a glasses prescription that met ALL of her artistic visual needs and she was impressed that the Doctor answered all of her questions in a very clear manner in which Susan could completely understand.

Susan recently moved to Washington, DC – BUT, she still plans yearly trips to South Florida so she can come to Visionary Eyecare and see Dr Dawn Bearden for her annual eye exam.

Starlene Carter came into Visionary Eyecare (Next to Lenscrafters) in Pembroke Pines in January 2001. She was in the area and decided to stop in to schedule an eye examination for herself the following week. She was not intending to get an eye exam that day – her plans were to spend that day shopping!

Our Office Manager, Carol Marsh, was there that day and convinced Starlene to go ahead and get her eye exam that same day since the office was not busy and the Doctor (Dr Dawn Bearden) would be able to see her right away. Starlene agreed but, was insistent that she would NOT have her pupils dilated that day. Her shopping was waiting and she did not want to “mess up her day” with that “dilation thing”. Carol told her that the Doctor would talk to her during the exam about the importance of dilation. Still Starlene would just not be convinced….

When Starlene met Dr Bearden for the first time – Dr Bearden began to explain and stress the importance of pupillary dilation. Dr Bearden explained that this was Starlene’s first eye exam in our Visionary Eyecare office, there could be a multitude of eye diseases or problems that Starlene may be unaware of (because most eye problems do NOT cause any symptoms like blurry vision, headache, eye pain etc) and that Dr Bearden may NOT be able to detect these issues if Starlene did not allow the Doctor to dilate her pupils. Dr Bearden also explained that Florida laws requires your Optometrist to dilate your pupils on the initial eye exam when you have an eye exam with a new Optometrist. Reluctantly…..VERY reluctantly….Starlene finally agreed.

This simple decision absolutely saved Starlene’s vision.

During the eye exam, all seemed very normal. Starlene had no family history of eye disease, she was able to see 20/20 in each eye with her new glasses prescription, she had NO eye pain, NO headaches, NO discomfort, her eye pressures were normal, her blood pressure was normal, good color vision etc. But, when Dr Dawn Bearden dilated Starlene’s pupils – she saw 2 very LARGE retinal tears (retinal detachments) in Starlene’s right eye that posed a HUGE threat to Starlene’s vision in her right eye. These tears could have eventually caused blindness in her eye had they not been detected during the dilation and then properly treated.

Immediately, Dr Bearden called Dr Jay Levy – who is a local ophthalmologist who specializes in surgery of the retina. Dr Bearden sent Starlene to see Dr Levy – who did surgery on Starlene’s right eye to repair the retinal tears in her right eye.

Starlene is now a loyal patient of Dr Dawn Bearden’s. She is still able to see 20/20 in each eye and has had no further problems from the retinal tears that were surgically repaired by Dr Levy. Each and every year during her routine eye exam with Dr Bearden, you can find Starlene out in the waiting room telling her story to ALL of the other patients in the office. She does a GREAT job in educating people and everyone that she comes in contact with about the importance of yearly eye examinations and the VITALimportance of pupillary dilation.

It saved Starlene’s vision…..and it can do the same for you and for the people in your life who come in for their annual eye exam!

Around 10 million school children in America have vision conditionsthat can negatively affect learning. This can be prevented by taking kids to get their first formal eye exam with an Eye Dr in an Eye Clinic BEFORE they enter school. A child’s first eye test with an Eye Doctor should be done between ages 3 and 4. At Visionary Eyecare in Pembroke Pines, Sunrise (Next to Lenscrafters) and Davie (Next to Pearle Vision) – our Optometrists, Dr Bearden, Dr Tenn and Dr McCulloh, begin to see children at age 4.

Allen Picture Cards

A child does NOT need to be able to verbalize or know their alphabetfor the examinerto perform a comprehensive eye examination.

There are numerous eye charts for children!!

Lea Flip Chart

Allen and Lea charts have pictures or shapes on them that youngsters can identify. The Broken wheel chartallows the child to tell the examiner which wheel on the car is “broken” . The Tumbling E chart (also known as the illiterate chart) allows a child to just POINT in the direction that the “legs of the E” are pointing in.

Allen Picture Eye Chart

Often our children can not express to us when they are having problems with their vision. They may not even realize that they are experiencing vision problems. Sometimes children will try to compensate for vision issues by closing one eye, rubbing their eyes excessively, squinting, skipping over words or loose their place when they are reading.

Kids may start having difficulty in school due to an “unknown” reason. A recent study indicated that up to 60 percent of youngsters that have been identified as “problem learners” or “learning disorder” actually suffer from an undetected visual condition.

Tumbling E Eye Chart

A vision problem is not suspected in many children because they were able to pass the school vision screening or the pediatrician vision screening. These children may still have visual issues but, they were not detected on the screening. Only a comprehensive eye exam, done by an Eye Doctor (Optometrist or Ophthalmologist) will be able to detect subtle vision problems.

Broken Wheel Eye Test

Vision issues need to be detected and corrected before age 7 to prevent lifelong problems such as lazy eye (amblyopia), eye turn (strabismus), learning disabilities and behavior problems.

Did you want to learn how to use Social Media (Facebook, Blogging, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn etc.) in order to create an enormous presence online….which will in turn, build your business?? Do you have a website now but, it is not getting a lot of hits or attention from Google?? Do you want to learn how to rank high on Google for FREE?? Social Media (when used properly) can help!

If you are in the Ft Lauderdale area on July 18th – you can come and hear DrDawn Beardenspeak at the Health and Wealth Annex to get more educated about this subject. Learn how to harness the POWER of the INTERNET using FREE Social Media resources. The 2 day weekend event will be held at theFt Lauderdale Hilton Marina and is only $149 (valued at $995).

Robert White– author and keynote speaker on The Power of Extraordinary Results in Organizational Leadership, successfully handling rapid change, entrepreneurial success and being more personally effective

David Naylor – will teach you how to their Inner Passions and get on a path of reconditioning themselves to Live an Extraordinary Lifestyle. He finds ways to have people look at their lives in a different way to discover and take on their passions in life, and getting themselves out of their own way.

Andy Henriquez – creator of The Fundamentals of Real Estate Wholesaling course – learn how to find properties, analyze potential deals, attract buyers, and get to the closing. The course is simple and easy-to-follow and has been designed to assist you in getting your very first wholesale deal.

Errict Rhett – former NFL player will speak on Perseverance and Excellence. He is the CEO of both Errict Rhett Custom Homes and The Errict Rhett Foundation, which was originally founded in Cleveland, Ohio and supports the provision of affordable housing.

Dr Dawn Bearden – Local Broward County Eye Doctor / Optometrist from Visionary Eyecare (3 Independent Doctor of Optometry Offices located next to Lenscrafters in Pembroke Pines and Sunrise / Sawgrass Mills Mall and Pearle Vision in Davie) and educator specializing in Harnessing the Power of Social Media Marketing and Networking

Frank Polancic– Author of “Why Wait? Create Your Soul Mate Now”. He will speak about about using the Law of Attraction in finding your Soul Mate

Gustavo Pinero – will educate you about Transforming Your Mind Around your Health – the dynamics that the mind and food have on healing. Gustavo is a Seminar Leader, Coach, Visionary, Healer, Medical Intuitive, Advocate for Synergy between Eastern and Western Medicine, Board of Trustee Member for Students of Medicine.

Lee Clark – As a life coach he specializes in guiding clients in discovering their passions via a Passion Test, defining career options and furthering the Discovery of their Life’s Purpose.

This is a story of how an eye exam can actually change the course of a child’s life.

Jennifer is a loving mother of an 5 year old little boy. Her son is absolutely adorable and a really good child yet, in school he was being labeled a “difficult / problem child” and a “disturbance in the classroom”. He often did not want to pay attention in school, frequently “acted out” and even threw his books. He just did not seem to be interested in reading or learning – at ALL.

As a mother, she knew that this behavior in school seemed a bit odd and out of character for the sweet, loving boy that she knew her son to be at home. The comments from the school really alarmed Jennifer that something was definitely wrong.

Her young son had passed his Pediatrician’s vision screening, AS WELL AS the school vision screening but, acting on motherly instinct – she ignored the comments that “his vision is fine” and took him to see the Optometrist, Dr Dawn Bearden, for a routine eye exam. Eye Doctor, Dr Bearden, manages the Visionary Eyecare (Independent Doctor of Optometry) offices next to Lenscrafters in Pembroke Pinesand Sunrise and also next to Pearle Vision in Davie.

During the routine eye examination – Dr Bearden discovered that Jennifer’s son was able to read the eye chart with just a little bit of blur but, he needed eyeglasses to correct the strain that he was feeling while reading. Once the strain was relieved from wearing the glasses full time…the child suddenly became more attentive in school and began reading ALL THE TIME.

Actually, he loved reading SO MUCH that he won an award from his kindergarten teacher for reading!! He even received an award from the school’s Principal for “Most Improved Reader”…he actually read 26 books within 30 days. WOW!!

Jennifer is now a HUGE advocate to have children get eye exams from an eye doctor and for parents NOT to be lulled into complacency by their child passing a vision screening. Her child could have gone through life in the classroom being labeled a “problem” and a “disturbance” simply because he could not see well and his eyes were being strained in school.

Jennifer states the following in her video:

No matter how well a parent THINKS their child sees well or if a child is labeled a “problem” in the classroom because he does not pay attention…it may just be because he can’t see well.

The eye exam has made a HUGE difference and my son has excelled, he is doing wonderful and his behavior is like “night and day”!